Energy Technology Innovation Learning From Historical Successes and Failures

About this book

Energy technology innovation – improving how we produce and use energy – is critical for a transition towards sustainability. Energy Technology Innovation presents a rich set of twenty historical case studies of energy technology innovation embedded within a unifying conceptual framework. It provides insights into why some innovation efforts have been more successful than others, and draws important policy conclusions. The case studies cover a wide range of energy technologies, ranging from energy supply to energy end use, from successes to failures and from industrialized, emerging and developing economies. The case studies are presented by an international group of eminent scholars under the auspices of the Global Energy Assessment (GEA), whose main volume was published in 2012 by Cambridge University Press. Energy Technology Innovation presents new data, new concepts and novel analytical and policy perspectives. It will prove to be invaluable for researchers, policy makers, economists, industrial innovators and entrepreneurs in the field of energy technology.

Contents

Part I. Introduction
1. Introduction A. Grubler
2. The energy technology innovation system C. Wilson and A. Grubler
3. Historical case studies of energy technology innovation A. Grubler and C. Wilson

Part II. Patterns and Linkages in the Energy Technology Innovation System
4. Grand designs: historical patterns and future scenarios of energy technological change A. Grubler
5. Historical diffusion and growth of energy technologies C. Wilson
6. Input, output and outcome metrics for assessing energy technology innovation C. Wilson
7. Technology portfolios: modeling technological uncertainty and innovation risks A. Grubler, S. Fuss, D. McCollum, V. Krey and K. Riahi

Part III. Knowledge in the Energy Technology Innovation System
8. Solar water heater innovation in the United States, China and Europe G. Nemet
9. Heat pumps: a comparative assessment of innovation and diffusion policies in Sweden and Switzerland B. Kiss, L. Nejj and M. Jakob
10. Sources and consequences of knowledge depreciation A. Grubler and G. Nemet
11. The French pressurized water reactor program A. Grubler

Part IV. Adoption and Use in the Energy Technology Innovation System
12. Technological improvements of solar thermal electricity in the United States and the role of public policy G. Nemet
13. Automobile fuel efficiency standards G. Nemet
14. Hybrid cars: development and deployment in Japan, the United States and China K. S. Gallagher
15. Solar photovoltaics: multiple drivers of technological improvement G. Nemet

Part V. Actors and Institutions in the Energy Technology System
16. A comparative assessment of wind turbine innovation and diffusion policies L. Nejj and P. D. Andersen
17. The role of standards: the Japanese top runner program for end-use efficiency K. Osamu
18. Solar innovation and market feedback: solar photovoltaics in rural Kenya D. M. Kammen and A. Jacobsen
19. The US synthetic fuels corporation: policy consistency, flexibility and the long-term consequences of perceived failures L. D. Anadon, G. Nemet and B. Schock

Part VI. Resources in the Energy Technology Innovation System
20. Brazilian ethanol: unpacking a success story of energy technology innovation D. Meyer, L. Mytelka, R. Press, E. L. Dall'Oglio, P. T. de Sousa Jr. and A. Grubler
21. Global R&D, market formation and diffusion investments in energy technology innovation A. Grubler, L. D. Anadon, K. S. Gallagher, R. Kempener, A. O'Rourke and C. Wilson
22. Energy RD&D investments in the major emerging economies and the United States R. Kempener, L. D. Anadon, K. S. Gallagher and K. Jiang
23. A comparative analysis of annual market investments in energy supply and end-use technologies C. Wilson and A. Grubler

Part VII. Conclusions
24. Conclusions: the energy technology innovation system C. Wilson and A. Grubler
25. Conclusions: policies for energy technology innovation A. Grubler and C. Wilson

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Biography

Arnulf Grübler is a world leading scholar on the history of energy systems and on technological change and innovation policy. He is Acting Program Leader of the Transitions to New Technologies Program at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria, and Professor in the field of Energy and Technology at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. He has been serving as lead and contributing author and review editor for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 1996. He has authored or edited several books, including Technology and Global Change (1998) and Technological Change and the Environment (with N. Nakicenovic and W. D. Nordhaus; 2002). He is also a convening lead author of three chapters in the Global Energy Assessment (2012).

Charlie Wilson is a researcher with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and a lecturer in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, UK. He is a scholar on innovation studies and on the history of technological change in energy systems. His current research focuses on both historical and future technology diffusion dynamics, and the adoption of energy-efficient and smart home technologies. Previously he has held positions with the London School of Economics and the IIASA. He is also a lead author of two chapters in the Global Energy Assessment (2012).